George Matschke Records--

George Herman Matschke was born in 1933 and raised in New Jersey. He earned a BS in Game Management from Auburn University in 1956. Upon graduation, he was drafted into the US Army, where served until 1958. He then went back to Auburn University and earned a MS in Game Management in 1960. From 1960-1965, Matschke worked for Tennessee Game and Fish, where he studied the life history of the European Wild Boar in east Tennessee. He then earned a PhD in Reproductive Physiology from the University of Tennessee in 1968.

Matschke began his career with the USFWS Denver Wildlife Research Center (DWRC) as a Research Biologist in the Center’s Mammal Damage Control Section in 1968, where he researched chemicals and repellents for controlling damage caused by rodents. From 1973-1975, Matschke served as Field Station Leader at the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, Field Station where he pioneered work on deer reproductive inhibition. In 1975, Matschke returned to Denver, where his research focused on rodent conflicts with agriculture. He conducted numerous laboratory and field toxicology, efficacy, and nontarget hazards studies. In 1989, he worked on a project concerning wild boar issues in Pakistan as part of the Center’s International Programs work. In 1993, he joined the Product Development Program at the DWRC, where worked on rodenticide registration research and rodent activity in urban areas. During this time, his research focused on rodent control and conducting laboratory and field studies on acute rodenticides as required by the EPA as partial fulfillment for the registration of compounds. He completed more than 70 EPA data submission packets on ZP, gas cartridge, 1080, Strychnine, oat groats, and blue dyes.

Matschke retired from the Center on September 30, 1999, after 33 years of service.